 |
| National Energy Policy Simulation |
Eric Jay Dolin, Daniel Greenberg and Lawrence Susskind |
Copyright 2000, President and Fellows of Harvard college |
|
| |
|
|
 |
|
|
SCENARIO:
It is February, 1993 and the United States has just experienced a serious energy emergency. High oil prices and cutbacks in international supplies of oil and gas have forced the President to tap America's Strategic Petroleum reserves. The inflation rate has jumped sharply to nine percent and the trade deficit is sky-rocketing. Various world events have helped to create this energy emergency. Among them are the bombing of the Gwar oil fields in Saudi Arabia (decreasing Saudi oil production by 35%) and a miscalculation on the part of both American and European refiners of the consequences of limiting supplies and reducing raw product inventories.
The President has joined other world leaders in calling for concerted international action, but no consensus has emerged on what that action should be. It is within this context that the President has convened a broadly-based bipartisan Commission on America's Energy Future. The President has asked the 16-member commission to develop detailed proposals for reducing America's vulnerability to the kinds of pressures and events that caused the recent emergency. The President has given the Commission six months to produce a report and urged them to strive for consensus so that the US might speak with a unified voice. The Commission will meet three times during those six months.
MAJOR LESSONS:
Consensus Rules: Agreeing upon the decision-rule(s) that will be used to determine consensus is one of the most difficult and important decisions in any negotiation.
Packaging: In multi-issue, multi-party negotiations, "packaging" issues, as opposed to dealing with them sequentially, improves the chances of reaching consensus.
Informal vs. formal: Informality and caucusing among interest groups or "opposing" parties breaks down barriers to joint problem-solving.
Impact of deadlines: Reaching agreement is easier when the parties are not "under the gun." In a crisis atmosphere it is harder to explore each others' interests and come to a consensus.
Determining success: In multi-issue, multi-party negotiations it is often difficult to determine whether the negotiations were successful, especially when consensus was reached on only a subset of all the issues on the table.
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
A 15 minute video titled Energy Game, is availalbe to order with this simulation and should be played for the participants at the beginning of the simulation.
At least 27 players are required, 16 for the Commission, nine for the lobby groups, and two as media commentators. It is recommended for there to be at least two people in each lobby group. It is also best when there is more than one game manager to help with logistics. Therefore, an ideal number for this game is 34+ participants.
MECHANICS:
There needs to be a room with a table for the 16 Commission members and additional seating for lobby groups and media observers. Some means of recording proposals and tracking progress should be available e.g. a flip chart or white board.
There should be a nearby room to accommodate and seat all the lobby group and media commentator participants. There should be at least 9 small tables for each of the lobby groups to meet.
A game manager(s) should be in charge of keeping time, collecting and delivering mail, and maintaining the flow of the simulation. All parties must stay on track - the simulation takes a lot of time and is divided into many parts.
Estimated Time Requirement:
This exercise takes 7 1/2 hours to run if played in one day or 6 3/4 hours if play is to be spread out over several weeks. There is a 15 minute videotape that needs to be played at the onset.
TEACHING MATERIALS:
For all parties:
General Background and Instructions
Letter from the President (given to the members of the commission only)
Simulation Schedule
Role specific:
Confidential Instructions for
Members of the Commission:
Democratic Congressman, Democratic Senator, Director of National Consumer Federation, Electric Utility CEO, Governor of An Energy Consuming State, Governor of An Energy Producing State, Investment Banker, Media Commentators, President of National Caucus for People of Color, President of National Environmental Coalition, President of National Labor Union, Representative of National Security Council, Republican Congressman, Republican Senator, Retired CEO of Major Oil Company, Secretary of Energy, University President and Nobel Prize Winner
Lobby Groups:
Automakers Lobby, Coal Lobby, National Consumer Coalition, Farm Lobby, Alternative Energy Association, Oil and Gas Lobby, Nuclear Lobby, Environmental Coalition, Members of the Large Energy Consumers Lobby
Teacher's package (102 pages):
All of the above
Teaching note, including logistics, general and specific background readings, most commonly asked questions, debriefing information, summary of lessons, suggested exam questions, and master policy/role matrix Optional videotape
KEYWORDS:
Consensus building on national policy; energy policy; multi-party negotiations.
THEMES:
Agenda control; Anchoring; Caucusing; Coalitions; Consensus building; Constituents; Linkage; Meaning of "success"; Packaging; Systems of negotiation
|
 |
| Time required | 5 or more hours |
| Number of participants | 27 |
| Teams involved | No |
| Agent present | None |
| Neutral third party present | None |
| Scoreable | No |
| Teaching notes available | Yes |
| To search for other role simulations by attributes, use our role simulation advanced search tool.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
